The Day in Sports | COUNTDOWN TO 2000 / A day-by-day recap of some of the most important sports moments of the 20th Century: APRIL 26, 1988

Finally, Boston Bruins Stood Tall in Montreal

For the Boston Bruins, the Montreal Forum had been a chamber of horrors for 45 years, a place where all dreams were nightmares.

The Montreal Canadiens had beaten Boston in 18 playoff series, a streak beginning in 1943 and ending on this date 11 years ago.

Ironically, a kid who grew up only a few blocks from the Forum, Steve Kasper, who showed Boston the way out of the jinx. He and teammate Cam Neely scored twice to lead Boston to a 4-1 win, before 18,904 in the Forum, who sat in stony silence.

The win gave the Bruins a four-games-to-one victory in Adams Division playoff series.

In addition to Kasper's and Neeley's scoring, Boston was boosted by superlative play of goaltender Reggie Lemelin, who held Montreal scoreless for 98 minutes during one stretch in the series.

Also on this date: In 1905, Chicago Cub center fielder Jack McCarthy turned in a performance equaled only once in this century. He threw out three runners at the plate after catching fly balls, a feat duplicated since only by Ira Flagstead of the Red Sox in 1926. . . . In 1967, the Lakers, looking for a successor to coach Fred Schaus, reached into the Ivy League and hired Princeton's Butch van Breda Kolff, 44. Schaus moved up to the general manager's post. . . . In 1961, in Detroit, the Yankees' Roger Maris hit the first of his 61 home runs that season, off right-hander Paul Foytack in the fifth inning. It would be his only home run in April. . . . In 1941, the Chicago Cubs became the first major league team to install an organ in a ballpark.